“If
any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11). “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in
the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He
that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son”
(2 John 9, 10). “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good”
(1 Thessalonians 5:21).
“Believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into
the world” (1 John4:1). “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be
rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall
fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:13-15).

Is denominationalism a solution to
religious problems, or is it a part of the problem?In light of the scriptures, let us study this
matter very carefully.

Denominationalism Is Prompted

By a Spirit of Separation

Its very name implies such. Webster
defines “denomination” as “the act of naming, a name, an
appellation.”

The only two senses in which the
word “church” is used in the New Testament is in the “local sense” and the
“aggregate sense.”A denomination is
larger than the local congregation, and yet smaller than the church in the
aggregate sense. The very name
“denomination,” therefore, suggests separation.

Denominationalism Gives Sanction To the Way of
One’s Choice

“It
is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jerermiah10:23). “There
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the ends
thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs
10:25).The Lord said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways”
(Isaiah 55:8).If one were left to pick the church of his
choice, he might pick the wrong one; but if he were to do the things the Lord
required of him, there would be no doubt but that the Lord would add him to the
right church.

In 2 Kings 5, Naaman couldn’t understand why
he could not choose the river in which to dip himself that he might be cleansed
of his leprosy.He believed that Pharpar and Abana were just as
good as the River Jordan.Was he
right?Far from it.It had to be the river
of God’s choice, rather than the river
of Naaman’schoice. In 1
Kings 12, there is the story of Jereboam’s erecting
two gods, one at Bethel, and the
other at Dan.He said, “Behold your
gods,” as if to say, “Worship the god of your choice.”He believed that any god would be perfectly
all right.Was he correct in his
thinking?Far from it.

How different from Naaman and Rehoboam are people
today who say, “Attend the church of your choice.”Where lies the difference in the following:
“The river of your choice,” “The god of your choice,” or “The church of your
choice.”

The New Testament knows but one
church. For centuries people were
members of but one church. Denominationalism
has changed the picture. Where God has
spoken, does man have a right to choose some other thing?

Denominationalism Is Built Upon Sincerity Alone

To worship acceptably, man must be
sincere.Without sincerity, forms and
ritualism mean nothing at all.Is
sincerity alone enough?What about Saul
of Tarsus?Was he not most sincere before his
conversion? (Acts 23:1; Acts 26:9; 1 Tim.
1:13).Would he have been saved had
he not made the change?If sincerity
alone is enough, then why did he need to make a change?The same thing could be asked of the
Ethiopian eunuch, or of Lydia.If one were truly sincere in holding to
atheism, would sincerity alone be enough?

Denominationalism Ignores the

Divine Standard of Unity

Jesus prayed that the believers
might be one, even as he and God are one (John17).
How were they One?
Did the Father teach something in
opposition to the Son, or did the practice of the Son contradict the
Father?Surely they were in agreement as
to teaching (John 17:4; 10; John 14:24).
Jesus wanted to glorify God, but how did he glorify him?In John
17:1, 4, we are told that he accomplished what the Father had given him to
do.“All
things that are thine, are mine, and all that are mine
are thine.”Being one, they were
in perfect agreement. In Romans 15:5, 8, we are told that we
glorify God by being of the “same mind
according to Jesus Christ, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”In 1
Corinthians 1:10, the Holy Spirit beseeches all of us to “speak the same thing, that there be no
divisions among us.”We cannot
conceive of Paul’s being a member of one church and Peter of another, and
Cephas of another.

The advocates of denominationalism
often say that we are all reading from the same Bible, and that we are all
going to the same place.Perhaps the
following illustration will help us:Five farmers bought a sack of seed and agreed to plant their respective
fields with the seed that came from that bag.The seed was supposed to have been pure.After some weeks had passed these farmers came together to report their
yield.The first report was, “The seed
that I took from that bag produced some of the finest rice that I have ever
seen.”Somewhat chagrined, the second
said, “That’s odd, for the seed I took out of that bag produced fine-staple
cotton.”Then, the third spoke, “This is
most peculiar, indeed. The seed I took from that bag yielded turnips.”The fourth replied, “My seed yielded
lettuce.”The fifth report was, “The
seed that I took from that bag produced wheat.”Can you imagine a thing of that kind?Suppose such really happened, how would you explain it?There would be one of four explanations:

(1) Perhaps the seed was impure.(2) Maybe the fields had been previously sown
with some other seed that choked out the seed that was taken from the bag.(3) Maybe they misnamed their products—that
is, the fellow who produced rice really produced cotton, and thought it was
rice, or the man who produced turnips had cotton and thought it was turnips.

(4) If one of the former three
things were true, these men surely did not all plant the seed that came from
the same bag.

Do we not have the same predicament
religiously?How could one teach that
there is nothing to the virgin birth, and another one teach
from the same book that the virgin birth is upheld in the Bible?Could both of these men be preaching from the
same Bible?How “can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
(Amos 3:3).We cannot differ and both be
right.Both may be wrong, but both
cannot be right, if their teaching is contradictory.

May we restudy the problem of
denominationalism, and, in light of the Scriptures, see if it be the problem,
or the answer to the problem.The Bible
is right, and by it one can come to know exactly what God desires.Denominationalism ignores the divine standard
of unity. Its name suggests division.

Denominationalism Endorses

The Making of Laws Where

God Has Not Made Them

The Lord speaks of baptism as a
burial. Denominations have sanctioned
sprinkling and pouring as substitutes for this burial.Which is right?

Denominationalism Destroys

Faith in the Church

It causes man to believe that the
church is not very important.Its
advocates believe that one can be a member of any church, or none and be
perfectly all right.Is one church
really as good as another?Can a man
build a church as good as the one the Lord built?That one cost the blood of Christ (Acts20:28).To it God adds the saved (Acts 2:47). In it we are reconciled to God (Ephesians 2:14-16). When one says, “You do not have to be a member
of the church to be saved,” surely he isn’t speaking of the Lord’s church, for
the Lord’s church is composed of the saved (Acts 2:47). In fact,
the Bible gives great emphasis to the church of the Lord.

Denominationalism Elevates

Man’s Personal Desire

Above That of the Lord

What you think, and what I think,
is insignificant, compared to what the Bible specifically says.The Lord has all authority, “both in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).What about denominationalism?Is it founded upon the Bible? Does it have the Bible as its authority, or is
it governed by the thinking of men? The
Bible is truth.In it there are no
contradictions.When two people follow
this Guide, there will be unity between them.